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Beneficiation and digestion of Georgia offshore phosphates.

The U.S. Bureau of Mines conducted beneficiation and digestion tests to evaluate the potential of recovering P2O5 from an apatite deposit located 10 nautical miles offshore Savannah, GA, in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). A 1.8 metric ton sample containing 1.0-1.5% P2O5 was obtained in a cooperative drilling project involving the Bureau of Mines, the Marine Minerals Technology Center-Continental Shelf Division, the Minerals Management Service, and the Georgia Nonenergy Minerals Offshore Task Force. Beneficiation methods were evaluated with the goal of producing a 29-31% P2O5 concentrate with a CaO: P2O5ratio of less than 1.6: 1. These specifications were obtained using a combination of gravity separation and flotation. Comparative leaching tests conducted using EEZ, Idaho, and Florida phosphate concentrates showed that these EEZ phosphates behaved similarly to land-based phosphates. The results suggest that as land-based phosphate deposits are depleted, ocean phosphates represent a feasible alternate source.